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/ 25 November 2004
The African National Congress (ANC) and the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) both won three of eight contested municipal by-elections held on Wednesday – with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) retaining two seats it previously had held.
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/ 25 November 2004
The number of people receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy in accredited government facilities increased from 11Â 250 at the end of August to 19Â 500 in October, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday. She said the increase in the number of people on treatment was part of the steady progress of her department’s management plan for the care and treatment of HIV and Aids.
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/ 25 November 2004
The South African criminal case against alleged coup plotter Mark Thatcher has been postponed to April 8 next year after a brief appearance in a Wynberg court on Thursday. Alan Bruce-Brand, a member of Thatcher’s legal team, said on Thursday that the conditions under which Thatcher had been released were extended, including a R2-million surety.
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/ 25 November 2004
Mark Thatcher must submit to questioning in South Africa over his alleged role in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, the Cape Town high court ruled on Wednesday, compounding legal woes which he said had left him ”destroyed”. ”I will never be able to do business again. Who will deal with me?” he told Vanity Fair. ”Thank God my father is not alive to see this.”
Thatcher’s bail conditions extended
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/ 24 November 2004
The Cape High Court on Wednesday rejected alleged coup plotter Mark Thatcher’s bid to quash a planned questioning session by Equatorial Guinea prosecutors. His legal team had argued that the questioning, scheduled to take place before a Cape Town magistrate on Friday, violated Thatcher’s constitutional rights to silence and against self-incrimination.
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/ 23 November 2004
The Independent Democrats (ID) on Monday accused Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon of lying, saying his attack on the ID was made up of lies and that the DA’s ”so-called scorecard reads like a right-wing intelligence report”. Leon said earlier on Monday that the ID had ”few principles and limited prospects” and it was spending its meagre resources opposing the opposition.
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/ 22 November 2004
South African Breweries, the South African arm of global brewing giant SABMiller (SAB), has confirmed that it will invest R5-billion in its South African operation over the next five years to expand capacity and to improve its ability to meet changing consumer needs locally, underpinning the company’s strong growth prospects.
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/ 19 November 2004
President Thabo Mbeki renewed his call on Friday for the worldwide disarmament of nuclear weapons, saying the current slanted situation should not be allowed to continue. For many decades, from the 1950s, the ANC has been an active opponent of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, Mbeki said.
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/ 18 November 2004
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is likely to maintain its current monetary policy framework of inflation targeting for at least the next 10 years, despite temptations to focus more on promoting economic growth, according to Bernie de Jager, senior consultant at the SARB’s research department.
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/ 17 November 2004
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance has urged Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to ask the Public Investment Commissioners (PIC) not to fund the Ngcaba-Ngonyama-Serobe consortium in its bid for the 15,1% Thintana stake in Telkom. The PIC announced its deal this week adding that it was warehousing the deal for an empowerment grouping.
Telkom deal raises Cosatu’s hackles
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/ 16 November 2004
Alleged drunk driver Benjamin Kleinbooi’s car could end up with Toyota’s financial services division, rather than being forfeited to the state, it emerged on Monday. Kleinbooi’s Toyota Corolla was attached last week by the Asset Forfeiture Unit under a High Court order, after his two drunk driving arrests earlier this year.
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/ 15 November 2004
Listed retailer Woolworths Holdings plans to repurchase R1-billion of its own shares using the proceeds from a securitisation of its in-store card book, the company revealed on Monday. The move could possibly be in preparation for a future black economic empowerment deal.
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/ 15 November 2004
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Monday that an elderly swimmer had been reported missing after a ”huge” great white shark was spotted at Fish Hoek near Cape Town on Monday morning. NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said a full-scale search was under way for the elderly woman.
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/ 12 November 2004
The leaders and people of Israel and Palestine should honour the memories of Yasser Arafat and slain Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by acting practically to achieve the ”peace of the brave”, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. He was paying tribute to the late Palestinian president in his weekly ANC Today newsletter.
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/ 12 November 2004
Despite criticism he is beholden to the interests of big business, recently re-elected United States President George Bush appears to have driven a strong, principled and effective pro-Africa policy, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. ”There are aspects of the Bush presidency that deserve a closer look,” Leon states in his weekly newsletter.
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/ 12 November 2004
Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa started the debate in the National Assembly on Friday morning on the National Small Business Amendment Bill, which he said is aimed at reducing duplication of institutions underpinning small-business development.
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/ 11 November 2004
In a precedent-setting decision, the Cape High Court on Thursday ordered the attachment of the car of a Western Cape man arrested for drunken driving. ”This is the first, and we expect to do a lot more, particularly over the festive season,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Sipho Ngwema.
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/ 11 November 2004
If you’re concerned about cancer, skip the braai but enjoy the biltong, say researchers at the University of the Free State. In a paper published in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal, they have described the results of a battery of tests on nine volunteers fed a biltong-enriched diet over five days.
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/ 11 November 2004
Democratic Alliance Western Cape chairperson Kent Morkel says a claim that he took a bribe is "utter nonsense". Micro-loan provider Gilt Edged Management Services on Wednesday agreed to pay R65-million in fines and compensation on two counts of corruption, one of which involved an alleged R10 000 bribe to Morkel.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125339">DA man linked to loan scam</a>
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/ 11 November 2004
South Africa’s largest commercial banking group, Nedcor, has confirmed its previous earnings forecasts for the financial year to the end of December, saying on Thursday it expects its headline earnings per share (excluding translation gains or losses) to be between 6% and 19% lower than the 502 cents per share reported in 2003.
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/ 11 November 2004
South African President Thabo Mbeki has joined the international community in expressing sorrow and a deep sense of sadness at the passing away "of that icon of the Palestinian struggle, President Yasser Arafat". The ruling African National Congress and other parties have also paid tribute to Arafat.
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/ 10 November 2004
Senior Democratic Alliance politician Kent Morkel has been accused of taking a bribe in a multimillion-rand corruption case that came before the Cape High Court on Wednesday. In a plea-bargain agreement, micro-loan provider Gilt Edged Management Services consented to fines totalling R5-million on two counts of corruption.
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/ 10 November 2004
Listed retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) has reported an 88% rise in its headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of September 2004 to 968 cents, from 516 cents a year earlier. The group doubled its interim dividend while maintaining two times earnings cover, to 494 cents per share from 247 cents in 2003.
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/ 10 November 2004
Cape Town has taken its next step in improving tourist services in the region with the launch of Cape Town Tourism’s new united corporate identity. Cape Town Tourism was previously the bureau responsible for the CBD, Waterfront and Atlantic Seaboard areas only.
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/ 9 November 2004
The sale of Thintana’s remaining 15,1% in Telkom to an elite, government-aligned consortium is an example of an opportunity lost for broad-based empowerment and an unusually unfortunate example of crony capitalism, says shadow communications minister Dene Smuts.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Business&a=12&o=141486">Telkom welcomes BEE partner</a>
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/ 9 November 2004
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel took aim on Tuesday at excessive fees charged by insurance companies administering retirement funds. Manuel said while the taxation of pension funds remains "an ongoing concern", this is also true for fees charged.
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/ 9 November 2004
Telkom, South Africa’s partially privatised fixed-line telephone company, will announce its proposed tariffs for next year on Monday, says Telkom CEO Sizwe Nxasana. "With inflation being where it is, we can expect Telkom’s tariffs to be even much lower [sic]," Nxasana told the National Assembly communications portfolio committee on Tuesday.
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/ 9 November 2004
Italian prosecutors are hoping that a former South African police officer now in a psychiatric clinic may be able to testify in Italy at alleged Mafioso Vito Palazzolo’s trial in absentia. The police officer, Abraham Smith, broke down last week when he took the stand.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125190">Count Agusta link probed</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125163">Failed bid to charge Palazzolo</a>
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/ 9 November 2004
A traditional surgeon who allegedly performed an illegal circumcision on a 48-year-old man is to be prosecuted, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. Kupelo said the circumcision season has just started, with more than 30 boys in the Port Elizabeth area queuing for pre-circumcision medical tests on Tuesday.
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/ 9 November 2004
A final report on the Jali Commission’s investigation into corruption and maladministration in prisons is being compiled, with gun smuggling one of the issues addressed. ”C-Max is one of the prisons that fall in the nine management areas we looked at,” said commission secretary Charles Frank on Tuesday.